New ‘Lone Ranger’ Film Exonerates ‘Racist’ Classic Hollywood

All my life I have heard left-wing film scholars and media liberals rail against the studio-run Hollywood of old for frequently casting white stars in the roles of racial minorities. Although, for the most part, these characterizations were quite dignified — that didn’t matter; this practice proves that the old white Republicans who ran Hollywood were racists.

And yet, here we are in 2013, and the whiter than white Johnny Depp is headlining a $250 million summer tentpole portraying Tonto, a Comanche Indian.

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What? There are no Comanche who can act, racist Hollywood?

The Depp casting is obviously a commercial decision on Disney’s part, just like casting Paul Muni was in “The Good Earth” and Marlon Brando in “Viva Zapata.”

But if I understand left-wing film scholars and media liberals, the greedy studio decisions behind the respectful characterizations created by Muni and Brando were racist. The casting of Depp, however is, uhm….